Flax-felt machine.



J. E. LAPPEN.

` FLAX FELT MACHINE.

APPLICATION P ILBD FEB. 17, 190e.

J. E. LAPPEN.

FLAX FELT MACHINE. APPLIGATION FILED H1B. 17, 19087 Patented Apr. 16, 191.2.

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J. E. LAPPEN. PLAX FELT MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB.17, 1908..

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

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' i y Alorlzeys M www FLAX FELT MACHINE.

. APPLICATION FILED FEB.17, 1908.

I,023,473. Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

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JAMES E. LAEPEMOR LE ROY, MINNESOTA, sssIeNo'R To LEROY FIBRE OOMPANY,- for sfr. PAUL-MINNESOTA, -A CORPORATION or MINNESOTA.

To all 'whom it may concern roasgaas. Y,

Bev it knownthat I, JAMES E. LAPPEN, a citizen of t-he United States, residing at Le Roy, in the county of Mower and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Flax-Felt Machines; and I do hereby declare the folllowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable Others skilled in .the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to pro- .Vde an improved fiber board machine, and

to this end it consists of the novel devicesv and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

The improved machine illustrated in the drawings was especially designed for carrying out the process disclosed and claimed in my cO-pending application S. N. 330,274,

filed August 12, 1906, entitled Process of producingilax felt, and in, making the socalled. iaX felt or iexibl'e fiber board dissaid machine, directions being taken with shown in Figf'7.

respect to a person viewing saidfigures. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in plan illustrating the construction of the main endless apron of the machine.` Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in plan, showing a portion of one `of the so-called secondary pressure rollers.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the right hand or receiving portion ofv the machine, some parts being removed and some parts being broken away. Fig. 5 Ais a transverse vertical section taken approximately on the line m5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6, is a detail in 4horizontal section, taken on the line fr m6 of Fig.5, some parts being broken away. Fig.l7 is a view in side elevationvshowing the left hand or delivery end portlon of the machine, some parts being indicated partly by dotted lilies; and 8 is a plan View of the parts Specication of'Letters latent.

' thereon in Fig. 1.

parts throughout' FLAXJELT MACHINE,

raamt-@eci apr. is, rara.

- Application filed February 17, 1908. Serial 110.416,165.

In the description of this improved machine, the fiber ,treated will be assumed to be flax, and the liquid iii which it is submerged for treatment will be assumed to be water. The vessel in which the water is contained is in the formof a long trough 1 which, as shown, is supported by suitable legs 2. The iiaX ber is indicated by the character y, and the level of the water contained in the trough 1 is indicated by the 65 character a. The fiber y, as shown, 1s delivered into the right hand or receiving end of the trough 1 by an inclined spout 3. Rigidly secured in the receiving end of the trough 1, below t-he level of the water a, 7n is a toothed concave 4C with which coperates a toothed cylinder 5, the shaft 5a of which is mounted in suitable bearings 6 on the sides" of the trough 1, and, as shown, is provided at one end with a pulley 7, and at its other end with a sprocket 8. A power driven belt 9 runs over the pulley 7 to impart rotary motion to the cylinder 5 inthe direction of the arrows marked 8G Suitably secured within the trough 1, just in front of the concave 4, is a perforate or reticulate deck 10 that is submerged in the Water a. Working immediately above this perforate deck 10 are several so-called agi- 35 tators made up, as shown, of shafts 11 having spirally arranged teeth 12. The shaft@` 11 are mounted in suitable bearings 13 on the sides o f the trough 1, and the teeth 12 are arranged to work in the water z close 90 -to the upper surfacey of the deck 10. The

intermediate shaft 11 isprovided at one end with aA sprocket 14 over which and the sprocket 8 of the cylinder shaft aa'sprockety chain 15 runs. At its other end, said in- 95 termediate shaft 11 is provided with two Asprockets 16 and 17. A sprocket chain 18 runs over the sprocket 17 and over a sprocket 19 on the right hand shaft 11, while a sprocket chain 20i runs over the 100 sprocket 16 and over a sprocket 21 on the left hand-fshaft 11. Thus the three agitators are driven from theY cylinder shaft 5a. As shown, a hood 22 covers the cylinder and the three agitators.

Along endless traveling apron or carrier belt23 receives the fiber from the perforate deck 10 at a point below the upper surface of the water a -and carries the same grady ually upward and toward .the delivery or 110 left hand end of the machine. This apron 23, at its receiving portion, runs over an idle guide roller 24 that is submerged in the water z, mounted in suitable bearings on the sides of the trough 1. The delivery portion lof this apron 23 runs over a large roller 25 which, as shown, is suitably journaled in a heavy frame located beyond the delivery end of the trough 1 and ymade up of laterally spaced pedestal plates 26 and tie bars 27.- At-the delivery end of the trough 1, the belt 23 runs over idle guide rollers 28 and 29 mounted, respectively, on the adjacent endy of the trough 1 andon a deck frame v30, which latter, as shown, connects the delivery end of the trough 1 to the pedestal plates 26 and supports an imperforate much coarser mesh deck section 31, over which. the upper portion of said apron 23 runs. At the right of the rollers 28 and 29, the upper portion of the apron 23 runs over Aan inclined open,

deck, made up, as shown, of longitudinally extended slats 32 and transverse tie slats. 33.

In Aaccordance with one feature of this i11- vention, the endless Aapron or carrier belt 23 is made up of a reticulate cloth fabric 23a and a woven wire fabric 23", as shown only in Fig. 2. The t. wire fabric 23b has very and serves to give required strength to the said apron, while the cloth fabric 23a, being of smaller mesh, permits the free escape of `water therethrough, but holds the fiber and prevents the same from becoming entangled with the wire fabric 23".

Overlying the large roller 25 is a similar roller 34 that coperates therewith to make up what is herein designated as a pair of primary pressure rollers. The shaft ofthis roller is mounted 'in bearings 35 which, in turn, are mounted for vertical adjustments in suitable seats formed in the pedestal plates 26. The bearings 35 are yieldingly pressed downward by coiled sprin s 36 which, in turn, are arranged to be adjusted by screws 3T that have threaded engagement, as shown, with top bars 26 of said pedestal plates. f

Located at. the left of and horizontally alined with the so-called primary pressure rollers is asimilar pair of so-called. secondary pressure rollers 38 and 39. The shaft of the upper rollen 39 is journaled in a bear-l ing 40 which, in turn, is mounted for vertical movements in suitable seats formed in the pedestal plates 26. Thebearings 40 are yieldingly pressed downward by coiled .44 and over a sprocketi46 on the shaft 38a than the cloth fabric 23" on in Fig. 1a. Working between the rollers 25 and 38 is a short supporting belt 48 that` 'runs over small rollers 49 and 50 mounted in suitable bearings in the pedestal plates 26. The shaft 4of the roller 49 is provided with a sprocket 51 with which the chain 45 also engages so that said belt 48 is driven in the same direction as the rollers 25 and 33.`

The numeral 452 indicates a suitable carrier, shown as in the form of a slatted belt arranged to run over a suitable roller 53 and a. coperating roller (not shown) for carrying the finished-'felt or yboard to a drier, or elsewhere.

The secondary Ipressure'rollers are pref erably faced or covered with woven wire fabric' 54, as best shown in Fig. 3. f

Overlying the :apron 23 and extending transversely across lthe same, approximately at the pointwhere the said apron leaves the upper surface of the water a, is a 'vibratory tapper, preferably in the form of an ap \proximately Hat tamping plate 55 having roundedl edges. As shown, this tamping plate 55 lis provided with transversely reduced vertically extended end portions 56 thatwork in vertical grooves 5"(A of guide pedestals 58 rigidly secured to the sides of j the trough l. Mounted in the upper por tions of the ide pedestals 58 is a crank shaft 59. This crank shaft is connected by a pair' of linksto the" opposite end portions of the tamping plate 55. As shown, the said links are made up of body sections 60 and threaded rod sections 6l, the latter of which engage nuts 62 countersunk into the tamping plate 55. The body sections 60 'have a slight pivotal movement on' the rod sections 61,50 as not to interfere with the` true vertical movements of the tamping plate. On one end of the crank shaft 59 is a pulley 63 over which a power driven belt 64 runs to impart rotary motion tot-he said crank shaft and, hence, a vertical vibratory movement to the tampin plate Secured tothe sides o the trough 1, just in front of the tamping plate 55, is a pair.

ofreversely set gathering boards 65 which are preferably made adjustable by means of slotted brackets l66 and set screws 67. Se-

cured to the sides of the deck frame 30, just in front .of the primary rollers 23-34 is another pair of gathering boards 68 which are'preferably made'adjustable by means of slotted brackets 69 and set screws 70. Secured to the pedestal plates 26= between the rollers 34 and 39, is stillanother pair of gathering boards 71.

The flax fiber y which is treated in this machinemay be obtained either directly tlon in a suitable digester for a Vsuitable gether.

length of Atime in order to soften upr the fibersl and remove more or less of t-he gums from the bast. These gums must be removed to a sufficient extent to prevent the fiber board from fermentation when put into service under the action of heat and moisture. The softening up ofthe fibers is also a matter of large importance in order to get the material into the best condition fortreatment by this machine, and whatever additional manipulation is necessary to get the fibers felted together into the fiber board. The cooking is especially necessary in order to soften up the shive, as the shive in `its raw state is very hard and very stubborn. After the tow has lbeen cooked in an alkaline or equivalent chemical solution of the proper strength for the proper length of time, however, this shive will be sufficiently softened up to enable t-he felting together of the shive and the bast whilethe disintegrated fibrous stock is held in suspension in the water of the felting vat. The bast is naturally of such density that it will be held in suspension in the water and the shive is made of sufficient density for that purpose or result by the said cooking action. Moreover, most of the shive is adherent to the bast and, remains adherent to the bast after the cooking ac tion, and evenafter the stock has been disintegrated by the devices 4of this machine. There will, however, be

some of the bast in a free or loose condition in respect to the shive, and some of the shive free or entirely detached from the bast. The bast is long and the shive is relatively short, but inasmuch as both the bast fiber andthe shiveA will be held in suspension in the water of the felting vat after the cooked stock has been torn apart and disintegrated bythe devices of this machine, it follows that they can be intertangled and interlapped-in such a way that they will thoroughly feltto- .The operation of the machine is substantially as follows: The flax fiber introduced into the delivery end of the tfough 1 will be thoroughly disintegrated while submerged in the water by action of the toothed cylinder 5and toothed'-concafve 4, and will be deliveredv above the-perforate deck10 where it becomes subject to the rotary agitators 11--12, and by the latter it will be further loosened up, spread out and commingledv means l with the water.Y The said agitators also serve to carry soaked fiber forward onto the delivery portion of the traveling apron 23. By this traveling apron the liber is gradually raised in the water,1and as it is raised and carried onward by the apronrit gradually settles -down .into the form of a loose and somewhat bulky sheet, and by said belt is carried entirely out of the water. While the disintegratd fibrous stock is held in suspension Ain the water within the vat and directly over the apron 28, it is manipulated by hand to insure a uniform vdistribution of the stock in the water above t-he apron and thereby also insuring the proper felting action. Otherthe loosened and thoroughly wise stated, two men stand by the side of the l machine, one on each side of the vat, and manipulate the fibrous stock which hangs in suspension in the water above the apron until they get it uniformly distributed and the fibers in position to interlap and interlace together as they are permitted to collect on the apron as it approaches the top of the waterI and emerges therefrom, while this felting action is further insured by the running of t-he water through the reticulate apron after rit emerges from the water. Otherwise, and briefly stated, the mechanism of the machine itself is supplemented by the said hand action to insure the proper felting action to get the best grade of fiber board. Approximately Aat the point where the collected sheet of fiber is carried out of' the water, it is acted .upon by the vibratory tamping plate 55. This tamping plate, by its-rapidly repeating pounding or tamping actions on the loose sheet-like body of fiber, packs the same down and very greatly decreases its thickness while at the same time removing considerable water from the fiber. In this pressing actionthe'tamping plate 55 nds a base of reaction against the slatted or open deck 32-33. The water pressed from t-he fiberband which runs from the liber by gravity, finds free downward escape through the meshes of the apron 23 and through the slatted underlying deck. In practice I have found that cooperating rollers are not satisfactory for imparting initial compressionto -the loose and bulky sheet of fiber, because .the lfibers in this loose condition have little cohesion and,hence, would tend to back up or accumulate in froiit ofthe rollers instead of passing between the same as fast as delivered thereto. This vibratory tamping plate, however, simply presses the'under- .lying fiber together Vand does not otherwise displacethe' same or cause the fibers to be bunched up. The sheet of fiber or partially completed iiax felt after it has been partly compacted and has passed onward from the tamping device, is indicated by the character zin Figs. 1 andy la. When this sheet a1 is, by the traveling apron 23, carried between air cells or chambersonboth sides of the felt. In passing between the said secondary rollers ,38 and lv39, the edges of the felt'or board are cut and trimmed by the cutting flanges 38b of the roller 38 which overlap the ends of the overlying roller 39. The nished flax felt or ber board is, as already indicated, deliveredv onto the carrier 52 by means of which it may be delivered to a drier, if desired.

As is evident, the gathering boards 65 keep A the loose ber within the zone of actionof the tamping plate 55, the gathering boards 68 keep the ber within the zone of action of the primary pressure rollers 25-34, and the gathering boards 71 keep the y said ber within the zone of action of the secondary pressure rollers 38 and 39.

What I claim is:

1. In a liber board machine, the combination with avessel adapted to contain commingled-liquid and ber, of an apron driving means,

apron extending from a point below to a Y point above the upper surfaceof said liquid 'mechanical means independent of apron driving means,

the ber of said sheet approximately at the the Vcollected ber and said operative to compact and operative to carry` from the liquid in the form of a sheet,

point where the same is carried out of said liquid, substantially as described,

2. In a ber board machine, the combination with a vessel adapted to contain commingled liquid and ber, of an inclined endless traveling apron extending point below to a point above the upper surface of said liquid and `operative to ycarry .the collecited berA from the liquid in the form of a sheet, a vibratory tamper op- .erat-ive to compact the sheet of ber approximatelyl at the'point where it-is earried from/said liquid, and coperating rollers operative on said sheet of ber to further compn'ess the same, substantially as des scribed..

I 3. In a ber board machine, the combina? 'tion with avessel adapted to contain commingled liquid and ber, of' an inclined :endless traveling apron adapted to carry the wet ber in the form of a sheet, and a vibratory tamping plate overlying said apron and adaptedto press and compact the Thesel tufted surfaces are an inclined end-less travelingl from a 'extending said sheet` of ber, substantially as described.

LlmIn a ber board machine, the combina` tion with avessel adapted to contain commingled liquid and ber, of an inclined open deck and an inclined endless traveling reticulate apron working over said deck, both extending from a oint below to a point above the upper sur and compact the sheet of-collected ber approximately at the point where it is carried from the liquid by said apron, substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a liquid containing vessel, of a coperating toothed cylinder and toothed concave arranged for action on the ber at a-,point below the upper surface of Athe liquid, substantially as described.

6. In a ber board machine, the combination with a liquid containing vessel, of

a cooperating toothed cylinder -and `toothed ace of the liquid, Iand a vibratory tamper operative to press concave arranged for action on the ber ata point below the upper surface of the liquid, and an endless traveling apronextending from a point dbelow to 'a point) above the upper surface of the liquid and arranged to carry the ber disintegrated by said cylinder and concave, from said liquid, substantially as described.

7 In a liber board machine, the combination with a liquid containing vessel, of a cooperating toothed cylinder and toothed concave arranged for action on the ber at a point below the upper surface of the liquid, toothed agitators operative on lthe ber disintegrated by 'said cylinder and concave, and an endless traveling apron extending from a point below to a point above the upper surface of the liquid and arranged to carry the ber delivered thereto by said agitators, from the liquid, in the form of a sheet., substantially asl described.

' 8. In a ber board machine, the combination with a liquidfcontaining vessel, of cooperating 4toothed 'cylinder and toothed concave arranged for action on the ber at a point below the upper surface of the liquid, a rotary toothed agitator operative on the ber delivered lthereto from said cylinder and concave, a submerged -perforate deck underlying said agitator,`and an endless traveling apron extending from apoint below to a point above the liquid and operating to carry the ber delivered thereto by said agitator, from the liquid, substantially as described.

. 9. In .a machine of v-the kind described,

in-the formi of a sheet, gathering boards arranged at the opposite sides of -said apron,

I,- and means for compact-ing the sheet of fiber carriedfrom the liquid by said apron, substantially as described. f

10. In a machine of the kind described,

the combination with a water containing tank, of an inclined open belt having its stock receiving portion submerged in said tank, relatively iXed carding teeth submerged in said tank in front of the receiving portion of said belt and from which the Astock is delivered to said belt, and a toothed port, and a toothed cylinder coperating with lsaid carding. teeth to card the stock below the surface of the water.` i

"12. In a machinel of the kind described, the combination withl a vessel adapted to contain commingled liquid and fiber, of ag inclined endless traveling apron having i stock receiving portion submerged in the liquidl of said tank and operative'to carry the-collected fiber from the liquid in the form of a sheet, and a vibratory tamper working over the intermediate portion of said apron and operative to compact the ber of the sheet carried by said apron.

13. vIn a machine of the kind described', a toothed cylinder to distributel the stock, an open conveyer for receiving and distributing the stock, and means for keeping a portion of the conveyer submerged to Wet the stock.

14. In a machine ofthe kind described,

the combination with a tank, an lendless conveyer therein and guiding sup-ports for supporting the discharge end of the conveyer above the Water level in the tank, of

means for distributing fiber on the conveyer,

near the end of ,the latter, opposite the dischargel end, and means intermediate the ends 'of' the conveyer for compressing the fiber being carried by the conveyer toward the dischargefend.

Y Intestimony whereof I aix my'signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES E. LAPPEN. Witnesses f E. E. HALL, l CLI. ROY. 

